Hoyer rips Colbert's appearance

An irate House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Sunday that comedian Stephen Colbert should not have appeared before a House subcommittee last week, blasting the move as "an embarrassment."

"I think his testimony was not appropriate. I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House," Hoyer said during an on "Fox News Sunday." "It was not appropriate... What he had to say was not the way it should have been said."

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Hoyer also said that there would be no House vote on extending the Bush tax cuts before Election Day, and he took several shots at the GOP’s “Pledge to America,” suggesting it would lead to dramatic cuts to the Pentagon budget and other federal agencies.

Hoyer's position on the controversial Colbert appearance was in marked contrast to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who said it was fine that Colbert testified before a Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.

"Of course I think it's appropriate," Pelosi told reporters on Friday. "He's an American, right? He comes before the committee, has a point of view, he can bring attention to an important issue like immigration."

"I think it's great," Pelosi added.

Colbert was invited to appear by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a close Pelosi ally who chairs the immigration subcommittee on Judiciary. Democratic insiders said Pelosi knew as early as Wednesday that the comedian – who plays a conservative on his show, the “Colbert Report” – but did not block the appearance or tell Lofgren not to go ahead with it.

Full Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) was unhappy about Colbert's appearance, asking him during Friday's hearing to ""leave the committee room completely and submit your statement instead."

Republicans were also angry about the stunt, calling it "sad" and "a joke" during interviews afterward.

Colbert turned his testimony into a comedic monologue, making jokes about entering a video of colonoscopy into the Congressional Record and bikini waxes. His prepared testimony in itself was a joke, since he did not follow that script when he spoke before lawmakers.

A spokesman for Comedy Central did not respond on Sunday to calls and e-mails seeking a response to Hoyer’s criticism of the comedian.

Hoyer’s comments on the postponement of a tax cut vote until a lame-duck session was the most definitive statement yet on the House Democratic leadership’s failure to reach a deal with their Senate counterparts on the issue. Pelosi and Hoyer canceled planned votes Friday when it became clear that a compromise was not possible, and the House is not scheduled to be in session until Wednesday this upcoming week. The major business on the agenda know will be to pass a continuing resolution keeping the government open when the federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

"The Senate has refused to move forward on that issue....They can't move it through the Senate. So it would be a specious act,” Hoyer said.